


Neverending

by chromaticfires



Category: Borderlands, Borderlands Presequel
Genre: Asshole Jack, F/F, Lilith (kinda), Probably gonna be pretty graphic, Siren!Athena, at some point, lady sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-05-25 06:09:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6183739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chromaticfires/pseuds/chromaticfires
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What makes a siren? Apparently Vault monsters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. That Probably Could've Gone Better

The first time Athena saw Janey Springs, it was through the combined haze of oxygen deprivation and incredible pain. The last thing she remembered she was being shot out of what was essentially a giant space cannon, the next she was being semi-cradled by a lanky blonde looking at her with the most beautiful, concerned brown eyes she'd ever seen, and it took her a moment to realize she was speaking to her.

"-happened to you? Are you okay?" Athena sat up, hissing at a pain in her side and pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead in a fruitless attempt to stop the throbbing pain between her eyes. She had no air to speak and Janey was quick to help her to her feet, bringing her to an O2 station, cycling it so she could breathe. The shorter woman gasped for breath, coughing as moon dust got in her throat. The blonde knelt beside her again, putting a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"What happened to you?" Her voice was rich with a fairly thick Elpis accent and it took Athena a moment to actually process what she'd said.

"I got shot out of a giant space cannon." 

"Wait, what?" The assassin got to her feet.

"I um, got shot out of the moonshot cannon on Helios." Janey looked at her in confusion.

"Uh, did you hit your head on somethin' darl?"

"No I uh, I was in a cargo crate when I was shot out of the cannon."

"Ohhh. That uh, that explains a lot." Athena nodded, her eyes closing tightly at the throb between them at the motion.

"I have to get to Concordia, can you give me directions?" Janey cocked a hip and crossed her arms.

"Well I could, but this is Elpis, and you're missin' a critical piece of gear. I know where you can get one, though you'll need to bring it back to me so I can fix it to make it work for you."

"Normally I'd like to know my employer's name before a mission, but alright." The blonde chuckled and stuck out a hand.

"Janey, Janey Springs."

"Athena." The shorter woman shook hands with her as Janey raised an eyebrow.

"Hello there Miss Mysterious." Brown eyes traced over Athena's body and she resisted the urge to fidget until Janey turned around, bounding off towards the next O2 station, calling out over her shoulder for Athena to follow her.

The O2 kit- Oz kit as Janey called it- was easy enough to get and Janey fixed it pretty quickly, leading Athena back to her base of operations in the Crisis Scar. Once they were in what was a considerably safer space than the hostile vacuum and kraggons outside, Athena became more aware of the damage the failed moonshot landing had done to her. Her enhancers had been hard at work keeping her on her feet but now that she wasn't in a battle type situation they were starting to slow down, registering the drop in her adrenalin level and responding to allow her body to do some of the healing on its own. Janey led her into the compound and down a large staircase, stopping and resting a hip against a large table in the middle of the room, watching Athena descend the steps, eyes tracing over her neck and the curves of her figure as the shorter woman looked around the room. Athena was beautiful, with the tan typical of Pandorans but somehow it was more attractive on the small woman than any of the other Pandorans Janey had seen.

"What actually is this place?"

"It's an old Dahl installation, most everything on the moon is." The mechanic walked over to a wall to the left of the stairwell, smacking a hand into a large panel of wall about six feet up, a fold up bunk falling down with a fold up ladder at the ready. Janey braced her hands on the upper bunk, kicking a panel just below it as hard as she could a couple of times to get a second bunk to fall down. "Sorry but you're kinda stuck on the bottom bunk, I uh, don't like being on ground level." This statement was accompanied by her rubbing a hand over the scarred side of her neck, which Athena noticed but declined to comment on, figuring that whatever gave the blonde this phobia was none of her business.

"It's alright, I prefer the bottom bunk anyway, you can be ready for anything faster than you can on the top bunk."

"Alright, glad that works out then. Well um, if you want I've got a shower you can use, there's more hot water than cold but uh, since you got shot out of a cannon feel free to use all of it." Janey directed her to the shower, and while the darker haired woman was showering she took the armor plates she'd removed, bringing them back to the main room and sitting down at her workbench, working the dents out of them and tightening all the loose screws. Athena padded into the room, her bare feet silent on the warm metal that made up the floor. She'd paused when she left the shower and found her armor missing and the clothes she'd been wearing previously, but relaxed when she saw the blonde working on it. Janey looked up when Athena reached the edge of the table, jumping slightly at her presence. Janey had taken her clothes to wash them when she'd taken her armor and loaned her a tank top and some loose pajama pants and the blonde's eyes were immediately drawn to the purplish black bruise on her left forearm and the tattoo on her right. Her eyes were next drawn to the dark purple bruise spreading from the top of her right bicep across her collar bone almost to the base of her neck, Janey's eyes flicked up to Athena's, a breath puffing out between her lips.

"Holy shit 'Thena." The assassin looked down at herself, then back at Janey, a quizzical look in her eyes.

"What?"

"It's a wonder you're alive. How are you even standing?" Janey stood, reaching out a couple of gentle fingers to keep her guest in place as she walked around her to look at her back. The massive bruise on her shoulder was even worse in the back, the skin deep red and covered in small cuts on the point of her shoulder and Janey had no doubt that there was more hidden under the thin material of the tank top. Athena fidgeted a little turning to face the blonde and taking a step back, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I um, I heal incredibly quickly, it's not that bad, I've had worse." Janey raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms but in the end she decided not to bother Athena about it any more than that, instead turning to the table, whacking a couple of panels to make the kitchen appear and making them something to eat. They didn't really say much, Janey attempted to start up a conversation multiple times but Athena wasn't used to someone showing that much friendly interest in her, so needless to say she was too shy for much conversation to actually occur. Over the course of dinner Janey realized that right before her eyes the deep, dark bruises she'd noted earlier were fading away, she was fairly certain that by the time it was morning they would be completely gone.

The next day, as Janey was coming down from her bunk ladder, she almost fell off at the sight of Athena's rather muscular, bare save for the sports bra she'd been wearing under the tank top she'd been loaned, as the assassin completed a set of pull ups on the bar in front of the window frame in the main room. The light from the lava geysers outside traced and gilded Athena's body, outlining tense abs and biceps, making Janey's jaw drop like a rock and a strangely sudden desire pool low in her stomach, and later that day when the assassin came back, Deadlift's precious vandergraften in hand and blood splattered all over her Janey was mightily tempted to act on that desire, but something in Athena's eyes stopped her from even hinting at it, a small, tired glint in her eye.

However that didn't really stop her from mentioning a very sexy scar on her stomach while Athena was out on a mission for her a little later.


	2. That happened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically we get into the main story also who's ready for nurse Janey?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, things got crazy but it's worth it because my girlfriend is flying in to stay with me for a couple of weeks tomorrow! :D Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys this and please forgive me for the delay.

     Once Athena made it into Concordia, she realized that there was nowhere safe she could stay to rest. She didn't need to rest all that often due to her enhancers, but a few days later when she did she felt her best option was to pick the lock to get into Janey's shop, locking it again once she was in and once again when she left in the morning, before the mechanic was awake. She did this successfully for a few weeks, until morning Janey came up early, almost dropping the steaming hot coffee she was sipping when she saw Athena hunched over in a corner asleep.

"Agh! 'Thena!" She yelled in surprise, startling the sleeping woman awake. Athena jumped to her feet, an SMG ready to go, thinking that there was danger. She was quick to put it away though once she realized what had actually happened.

"Ah, um, morning Springs." She said gruffly, internally squirming over having gotten caught. Janey planted her free hand on her hip, pursing her lips.

"What the fuck are you doing in my shop at three in the morning 'Thena?" Athena fidgeted a little.

"I don't really have anywhere else to sleep." Janey rubbed a hand over her face.

"You scared the piss outta me. How long have you been doing this?"

"A few weeks."

"Why didn't you just ask me if you could stay with me?" Athena blushed softly.

"I didn't know if you had any space and I didn't want to make things... weird." She said, apprehensively.

"Jumpin' jumbucks 'Thena. Come on." She said with a sigh her accent thickening as her body remember how tired she was. She turned and went back downstairs, Athena doing as she was told, following after her apprehensively but hopeful that she wasn't in too much trouble. Janey unlocked the door to her personal quarters and walked in, heading through an open floor plan living area and down a small hallway with three doors at the end. She opened the one on the right and waited for Athena to join her.

"I've got a proper home, of course I have the space. It's called a guest room silly. My room is across the hall and the door between this room and that one is my workshop." She fished a spare set of keys out of a drawer of one of the nightstands and handed them to Athena.

"You can come and go as you please, just lock up when you do. There's food in the kitchen and that door there leads to your bathroom, use it how you like." The blonde said, motioning to a door in the back right corner of the room.

"Lastly no callers after midnight. I need to be able to get up early in the morning to open the shop so I can't have you bringing ladies in here and makin'em scream." Janey said with a teasing smile. Athena blushed vibrantly.

"I um, don't think that'll be a problem Springs."

"'Cause you aren't into ladies?" Janey asked, hoping that wasn't the reason. Athena shook her head almost shyly.

"No, I just... don't really do one night stands." She said, trying to mask her shyness with gruffness. Janey shrugged, trying not to show her relief. She'd had a growing interest in Athena and well, if she didn't do one night stands she'd just have to find out more about her to see if maybe she wanted to or could give her more.

"Alright, whatever rolls your rover darl'." She couldn't resist winking at Athena before turning and starting to leave.

"If you'll excuse me though I have a project upstairs I'm excited to work on."

"Springs."

"Hm?" Janey turned and looked at her.

"Thanks." Athena said quietly.

"Anytime darl', and y'know, you can call me Janey." The blonde said with a smile before leaving.

 

 

     Janey learned quite a bit about Athena over the next couple of weeks, how she liked her steaks medium rare, what she did after she woke up (push ups every day in case you were wondering, and damn did she look fine doing them), what time of day she liked to shower, the fact that she enjoyed cleaning, and many other things. She also learned that believe it or not the ex-assassin had a pretty great but very dry sense of humor and was working on mastering sarcasm but was still pretty good at it. She learned that Athena preferred to drink tea rather than a beer after a particularly tough mission. She learned what satisfaction looked like on her face, whether it was the tired satisfaction in her eyes of a perfectly executed mission or the soft, simple smile that would curl the corners of her mouth when she had a good, warm cup of tea and she though no one was looking. She learned that Athena was actually a pretty handy mechanic herself, not as good as Janey since Athena's knowledge had been garnered from mid-mission fixes for quick get aways and not cultivated as Janey's had been. Likewise, Athena learned that Janey had a preference for a certain kind of beer made from shuggraths that quite frankly felt like acid to her Pandoran mouth. She learned that Janey loved coffee and drank it no matter what time of day it was. She learned that Janey was an inventor as well as a mechanic and had several plans for things that would make transportation both on Pandora and Elpis much faster. She learned that Janey's favorite colors were the cool, deep blues and purples of space, that Janey was actually a pretty incredible cook. She learned that Janey had a favorite rover that she serviced, she'd fixed its engine up during a bandit raid when Concordia's defenses weren't quite as strong and rigged it up like a toy to run down all the bandits that had forced their way into Concordia and shove them all out. The current owner had found a happy partnership with the car using it to hall supplies across the moon's surface from the Pandoran missile drop points, which kept the car and Janey happy as it wasn't being used to run bandits or anything like that.

Athena finally shot down the RK-5, gaining access to Typhos' Ribs, and as she collected the loot she pondered more of what she'd learned of Janey, and thought more about their interactions together, specifically one from a week or so ago.

Athena had gotten in around nine in the morning from a mission and decided that she needed a shower, but not thinking to close the door to her room before she did. She didn't think Janey would be coming down during the day, however she'd forgotten that on this particular Sunday Moxy was having a half off sale on her drinks, drawing pretty much all of Janey's clientele into her bar and essentially causing all the other shops around town to shut down for the day. Janey came down and saw her door open, thinking that maybe she was home and just too tired to shut the door. Thinking she'd be nice and shut it, she accidentally saw Athena leaving the bathroom toweling her hair off rather than covering her body. Janey's jaw dropped and of their own will her eyes scanned over Athena's body, starting with her biceps, lingering on her breasts, specifically her perky nipples, and collar bones, tracing the scars and definition of her body across her abs and down to the wet little mound of curls between her legs where her eyes lingered again before following down those muscular legs. Athena, feeling someone's eyes on her looked up.

"Springs!" She yelled out of surprise and embarrassment more than anything, causing Janey to shriek and duck out the door, practically slamming it behind her and running out of their shared living space like Flamey's son was chasing her and yelling an apology as well as something about coming back later. Athena's face was bright red long after she heard the front door slam and she kept her towel tightly around herself as much as possible as she dressed. She had sat on her bed for a little while after that, face buried in her hands in absolute mortification that she hadn't heard her come in and acted accordingly. She was embarrassed for more than that though, she'd liked the way Janey looked at her. Her eyes had been intense and hungry, but held a softness that made her heart flutter. No one had ever looked at her with that softness. She'd seen the hunger and intensity in the eyes of men and women plenty of times, but never that softness.

She pondered this as she shot Guardians and Lost Legion members down on her way to the Vault. She'd had this feeling in her chest that had grown every time she saw Janey, it sat like a soft silk cushion around her heart, fluttering whenever their eyes met. It was a safe, warm feeling.

It was the feeling of being home.

She wanted more of this feeling with Janey, and she wanted to explore what it meant, but she was shy and when it came to relationships she had no idea where to start. Even as an assassin she hadn't ever so much as faked a relationship with a mark, there'd never been a need. She had no idea how to go about starting a relationship, besides, a very large part of her told her that she probably had no chance, but just enough of her thought that she did, that maybe she could do this with Janey, that she wanted to try.

Shooting down another Lost Legion soldier and running through the force field, she decided that once this mission was done, once she was done with Jack, once she got back home, she would try with Janey.

 

 

     Athena gasped, choking on a combination of her own spit and blood. She was alone in the Vault now. Jack was gone, the Sentinel was gone, and she was guessing that Lilith was too. After Jack had left, roaring about revenge against Lilith and Athena had collected all the loot she wanted and was about to leave, the Sentinel had reappeared, but not as the giant she had defeated, rather in its almost person sized form and speaking in a language she didn't understand. Before she could even raise her gun to fight it, it slammed its staff on the ground and threw a ball of some sort of energy from its hand, and then all she knew was searing pain all over her body. The next thing she knew she was alone in the Vault, gasping and choking, lying in a pool of what she could only assume was her own blood. Everything hurt. Her clothes were soaked dark red and she could feel deep wounds all over her body, but she didn't dare look, knowing that it would only hurt more if she visually acknowledged it.

Janey.

For some reason, all she could think to do was get back to Janey. Maybe she thought that her enhancers could handle the damage, maybe she just thought she was going to die and wanted to do it at least near someone she trusted to make arrangements for her body since she could feel that the Hyperion New-U chip had been torn out of her neck, maybe she just wanted to go where it felt like home, she didn't know, but as she stumbled out of the Vault and down the walkway, leaving through the practical gauntlet she'd had to go through earlier to get to the Vault she found she didn't have the strength or energy left to care. She leaned heavily against the fast travel post, reaching forward and sluggishly selecting Concordia as her destination. The usual tingle of fast travel felt almost unbearable to her exposed nerves and when she opened her eyes again she was on the ground by the fast travel station in Concordia, curled on her side, teeth chattering as she shook from shock and a very alarmed Janey dropping a box of guns she'd been carrying over to the grinder and running over, sliding onto her knees next to Athena. Athena had no idea what she looked like right now, all she knew was that she hurt so so much, and that her enhancers weren't working on everything that she'd sustained since the third time she saw the Sentinel. Janey was saying something that she couldn't quite understand and yelled across the square at someone, Nina she thinks given the direction she was looking. She was about to close her eyes to rest them, she was so so tired, when she felt Janey pick her up her eyes flared open as a cry ripped from her throat at the pain of Janey's arms against her back, her hand instinctively balling in Janey's shirt and her body curling in on itself, instinctively trying to get away from the pain.

The next thing she remembered she was at Nina's, a Rejuvenator being jabbed into her chest, she supposed she'd flatlined and they were hoping to keep her around. Janey looked practically destroyed, hair disheveled with streaks of blood in it from where she'd run her hands through it, arms caked in blood along with her exposed midriff and jacket. There was a desperation in her eyes that Athena found to be very sweet and it distracted her from the pain of the needle in her chest and her body trying to heal. She felt a little better so she supposed that maybe she'd had some internal damage, but she could tell from their panic that none of her exterior injuries were healing. She grunted as they tried another one, it appeared that they were at least slowing her bleeding, she felt like she might live, but she supposed that could be from her enhancers getting supercharged by the rejuvenators. It still hurt so much. Her eyes slipped closed again.

 

 

     The next time she woke up was, again, at Nina's. She was lying in one of the beds, and she could see that she was on Nina's good side, or at least Janey was, since she had a morphine drip, which she supposed was the only thing keeping her from passing right back out again. She weakly looked down at herself, seeing that she'd been put into some sort of hospital gown. She could see a pulsing blue grid around her right arm, it seemed to be a sort of containment and sterilization field, probably to keep her from bleeding anymore and keep it clean, she assumed those were all over her given how her body felt. Looking to the left, she saw Janey, hunched over in a chair, asleep. She took a slightly deeper breath than usual, testing her lungs and coughed a little, they were sensitive but intact, and the good news was the she could hear again. As she turned her head she felt a New-U chip in her neck again, instinctively wanting to reach up and check, she did and the morphine dulled the pain enough that she could feel the remnants of sutures and the bump of a chip under her fingers and put her arm back down with little more than a groan. Janey seemed to hear and sat up next to her, rubbing her face with a sigh. She hadn't even washed herself off so Athena could conclude that either she wasn't out that long or Janey hadn't left her side. Janey looked up at her with tired eyes and looked away again, across the medical bay before practically giving herself whiplash turning back to look at her.

"You're awake!" The blonde practically shouted, eyes wide with a mixture of relief and surprise before she began to babble.

"We didn't think you were gonna wake up, god it was horrible, christ 'Thena what did you do?! You're so tore up and- and I had to help Nina sew a New-U chip into you so that if you died on us we'd get another chance! God you were bleeding so much-" Janey's eyes welled with tears at his point and Athena couldn't tell if it was because she was traumatized or if she'd been scared for her, both were completely plausible. She weakly laid a hand on Janey's where it lay on the bed, swallowing and licking her chapped lips so that she could speak.

"It's okay Janey. I'm sorry I had to do that to you." Her voice was rough and gravelly, and she had to swallow again, her throat was achingly dry.

"What the hell happened to you 'Thena?" Janey asked softly, only slightly more calm. Before she could answer Nina came bustling around the edge of the curtain with a large tray of medical implements.

"You! Do not do this again yes? Nina save you once but Nina can't do again yes? Hand." She said holding out her hand and picking up a small rubber ball on a handle with small spikes on it. Athena gave Nina her hand, wincing as she picked it up off the bed. Nina ran the ball across her palm and each finger separately.

"You feel?"

"Yes." Athena croaked. Nina picked up a pen light.

"Follow." She said. Athena did and then Nina turned it on and checked her pupils.

"You no hurt your head, good." Nina paused for a moment and looked at her.

"Thirsty?" Athena nodded ever so slightly.

"I'll get it." Janey said, quickly running off to fill one of the big foam cups Nina kept in her office with water and find a straw for it. Nina picked up the ball and spike utensil again, moving around to test her other hand before going to test her feet and toes. Nodding in satisfaction she ran a few other tests on the blue grids over her injuries, drawing the curtains before pulling back the covers and using a suite of sensors that she'd brought on the tray to test how things were going. Athena got a good look at her injuries and wished she hadn't. Whole swathes of skin and tissue were cleanly cut out and their were deep cuts all over her body that Nina had sutured shut and had to pull back the bandaging to check on.

"You lucky Nina had fields from Springs. They meant for burn and trauma victims. Without, you dead. Thank her." Nina said as she looked over a particularly large injury. Satisfied with the read out from the sensors she'd used to test the fields, she placed them back on the tray and pushed it away drawing back the curtain to reveal Janey standing there with a large cup of water.

"No ice yes?" Janey nodded.

"Good." Nina turned and used a button on the side of the bed to bend it so Athena could sit up without hurting herself. Athena moved to reach for the cup when Janey got close enough and Nina made a noise of dissent, gently pushing her arm back down.

"No use now. You need stay still much as possible." Athena was about to say that she was sure she could hold a cup of water, but a very pointed glare from the woman made her just purse her lips instead, then looking at Janey.

"It's fine 'Thena, I don't mind." She said, offering the cup with one hand and holding the straw with the other. Begrudgingly Athena took a long drink.

"Thanks." She said. Her voice was still rough, but it wasn't as painful to speak anymore. Nina sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed.

"Now then, you mess up big time. You no move much for month. You drink much water, eat much soup. Stay with Springs at end of week. She care for you. Nina check on you every week until you better, yes?" Knowing better than to question any of that and understanding what she was supposed to do, but wondering if that was alright with Janey she looked to the blonde.

"I've already agreed to this darl'. You're not getting out of it." She said with a small smile. Looking back to Nina, Athena nodded.

"Alright."

 

 

     Turns out that it was Wednesday when that happened, so she stayed in Nina's medical bay until Friday evening. Janey closed early, she could afford to now that Moxy was back on Pandora having decided not to hang around for when Jack got back and everyone had to come to her for repairs. She felt stronger than she had on Wednesday, and according to Nina her enhancers were still working properly, it was just that they had to work harder on these particular wounds, she said that she'd never seen tissue damage that bad that tissue could still survive so she assumed that the fact that nothing was necrotic was due to Athena's enhancers.

"You take good care of Springs too yes? She very worried and scared when you bleed so much." Athena nodded.

"I will." Nina nodded.

"Good. Now, Springs here, go." She said before walking away. Janey walked over, pushing a hover chair in front of her. Athena raised an eyebrow with a teasing smile.

"Isn't a hover chair a bit much Springs?"

"Oh shut up and get in the chair." Janey said with a small smile. At her words a loud, resounding no echoed from across the med bay where Nina was doing some paperwork and was accompanied by a pointed look. Athena groaned.

"You are not lifting me into that chair, I'm not an invalid." She said gruffly, bracing her palms under herself to sit up but not getting the chance, Janey picking her up and setting her in the chair. The blonde shrugged.

"If I let you do that I don't think she'd be willing to do this pro bono anymore." She said as an excuse, the truth was though that she just really didn't want Athena to get hurt again.

"She's doing this pro bono?" Athena asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, since I gave her these fields she says that the majority of the material costs were covered by my inventing and making these things, she owed me anyways."

"If I may ask, what exactly do they do?" Athena said as they walked by the old meriff's elevator.

"Well darl', the field holds a synthetic gel under it that reads the DNA of the tissue around it to create the structures that are meant to be there and at the same time soothes the tissue around it into thinking everything's okay as it starts rebuilding the tissue, neat right?" Athena chuckled.

"I thought you were a mechanic, not a doctor." Janey laughed.

"Well for the next month or so I'll be your nurse." She said with a slightly flirtatious smile. Athena blushed softly.

"You've got a shop to run Springs, don't worry about it." She said quietly, looking up at the blonde with an unreadable expression.

"We're friends 'Thena, 'sides the least you can do is let me take care of you after collapsing in a bloody mess a few meters from my door and scaring the piss outta me." Athena blushed softly.

"I am sorry that I scared you."

"S'fine, on one condition though."

"Hm?"

"I've been trying to get you to call me Janey for weeks, at least try and do it at some point." She said with a teasing smile. Athena chuckled.

"You have a deal Springs." Janey rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. 

"You're impossible." Athena smiled at her, really smiled. It took Janey's breath away, her blue eyes looked so light and happy and the way that her cheeks pushed at them made her heart skip.

"For the next month though it looks like I'm your impossibility for the next month or so."

"That you are." Janey muttered under her breath, a smile bowing her lips as she unlocked the door to their joint abode. The door swung in and Janey pushed Athena through the door, locking it behind them before pushing Athena down the hall to her room.


End file.
